Theives Gambit
by Demon Flame
Summary: Rogue just so happened to be out for a walk one night when the MRD chased some poor mutant girl into the public's eye. This of course was nothing new. What was so different about this time was that Logan had jumped in to throw a collar around the girl's neck. A collar that neutralized her powers. One-shot.


Rogue couldn't believe how lacking the security on Trask's Lab was. It was ridiculous really to think that this was a government funded operation and that there were only four guards for the whole warehouse. Two of which had been watching porn when she had snuck up and drained them, she would never be able to rid her mind of the image of the fisherman's wife and her love of octopus.

She peered down upon the lab. Trask was busy scribbling on a clipboard as he inspected the latest MRD technology. After she stole the collar she would erase all the computers and hopefully set their gadget department back ten years.

She nervously began to chew on her lip as she thought of the collar.

Rogue had seen the collar in action one night when the MRD had chased down some poor girl and scared her into using her powers. Luckily Logan had been there and had put the collar around her neck, deactivating her powers. Her heart had stopped and her breath had caught in her chest as she watched the scared girl turn back to normal.

A power neutralizer. What she wouldn't give to get a hold of that. Obviously breaking into the mansion was a no go, Logan would sniff her out immediately and kill her. Probably. Maybe. He was still pretty mad about being set up.

So over the next couple of days she had come up with a new plan, one that didn't involve the Brotherhood. God only knew what they would do with the collar.

The MRD had seen the collar in use, they now knew what it did. No doubt they would be after it too. But they couldn't very well burst into the mansion either and take it. It would be a political nightmare and politicians like Kelly hated that. Instead they would be sneaky, probably hire someone to steal it for them before having their tech department dissect it and making it into a weapon.

After she had come to that conclusion she had staked out Kelly's office until she had finally seen Sybil Zane. Kelley's right arm and an all around awful human being. Rogue had followed her to a crowded coffee shop and with a simple slip of skin she had absorbed the information she needed.

The collar would be stolen tonight by a mutant thief named Gambit. After Zane traded her two bags full of cash for the collar she would immediately drive it to Trask's lab on the opposite side of town.

By her watch and newly acquired memories, Zane should be arriving in the next ten or so minutes. Silently Rogue dropped to the ground and snuck up on Trask. It would probably be best if she just killed him right here, right now. She lifted her hand up and began to drain him, he hadn't even been aware that she was there or that anything was wrong. He had only been focusing on the collar and the giddy excitement of the possibilities it presented.

She wanted to hold on longer. Just end his sorry excuse for a life right here. But that wasn't her. Sure she had killed before, but it had been an accident and she had promised herself to never do it again. Besides if she was going to be honest with herself she really didn't want him running through her head all day every day.

She let go of him and dropped him to the floor. Rogue frowned. Zane would be on her guard if she saw Trask just sprawled out on the floor. It was reasonably late at night, late enough that he would be tired and she could probably get away with slumping him over on one of the desks.

So with strength that wasn't her own she picked him up by his collar and arranged his unconscious form on a desk just as the sound of a loading door opened and the sound of an engine tearing into the warehouse reached her ears.

Sticking to the shadows she crept along the wall, her eyes solely on Zane. Why the woman thought she could pull off that much white was beyond her. She looked awful, at least the White Queen had the fashion taste to make her solid white wardrobe work.

"Wake up Trask. I have the collar." she demanded while walking at brisk pace into the lab. The Bolivar in her head was screaming at Zane for driving her car into the lab. Apparently the gas emissions messed with the testing.

"Trask!" She shouted a bit louder, her voice echoing off the walls.

Rogue sprung from the shadows, shock barely registering on Zane's face before Rogue was draining the life out of her. The woman in the ugly white pants suit fell to the ground, the collar rolling out of her hand and landing next to Rogue.

She opened up the case to see the collar sitting there securely and tucked it into her jacket pocket. Now all she had to do was wipe out the hard drives and she could leave with a mostly clear conscious.

XxX

Wolverine jumped down through the hole in the ceiling after Gambit. What he saw didn't bode well for the fate of the collar. Gambit stood there staring at two guards who were passed out on the floor. Great, now someone else was after the collar.

Obviously it wasn't the Brotherhood as the building was still standing and wasn't crawling with MRDies. He pushed past Gambit to the open door and out onto the walkway that over looked the lab. What he saw made him growl low in his throat.

Sybil Zane was passed out in the middle of the lab and Bolivar Trask was unconscious and slumped over a desk. And right there beside Trask was non other than Rogue. The girl he had once thought of as like a daughter, the same girl who had betrayed him and their friends just because she was mad at him.

"Rogue!" he roared causing Gambit to grimace and mutter something under his breath.

She didn't even flinch as she typed away on the key board in front of her.

"Give me the collar, Rogue."

XxX

She had been typing away on the main computer for about twenty minutes when she heard someone in the room behind the observation deck.

"Rogue!"

Ugh, figures it'd be Logan who tracked down the collar.

"Give me the collar, Rogue." he demanded.

Rogue typed a few more things into the mainframe, finishing her attack on the MRD. The computers all around her began to scroll through pages and pages of code that would take them years to decrypt and by the time they finally did all this tech would be completely outdated. It was probably a good thing she had absorbed a couple of computer hackers who loved to cook up new viruses.

She let out an irritated huff before turning her head to Logan. "No." she said it as though she were speaking to a child or a dog. Unfortunately for Wolverine that was exactly how she viewed him.

"I don't want to hurt you, kid."

She rolled her eyes and began walking toward the door that would be her getaway. "It's a little late for that don't you think." she called over her shoulder. "But I'll tell ya what." she stopped with her hand on the door.

"If you can catch me, I'll give ya the collar."

She speared a glance at his companion, Gambit, the thief. A tall handsome man with the eyes of the devil. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that he could charm a nun into tasting a bite of the forbidden fruit. Maybe she'd use the collar with him. But with her luck he'd just steal the collar and run off without following through. Not that she had decided to use the collar at all yet. Her plan had been to get a hold of it first before she made any decisions.

She gave Logan one last frown before exiting the building.

She could just picture him vaulting over the railing and sprinting across the lab to catch her. Though this time he wouldn't catch her.

Rogue looked to the dark starry sky before bending her knees and propelling herself upward into flight. She smirked as she imagined Logan trying to track her that way.

XxX

Logan kicked the door open with Gambit hot on his heels. He didn't see Rogue in sight and what was worse was that he couldn't smell her anywhere either. Where the hell did she go and how did she manage to mask her scent like that?

"So who was that belle femme?" Gambit asked and when Logan turned around he saw that ever present smirk on his face and those creepy eyes glowing.

Logan unsheathed his claws. While he couldn't pick up Rogue's scent with his nose he did pick up another scent. A certain hormone that belonged to Gambit. "None of your damn business." he poked a finger into the taller mutants chest.

"How exactly am I supposed to find the collar if I don't know who she is." Gambit countered.

"You're not." Logan turned away and began stalking back toward the mansion hoping to catch a whiff of Rogue somewhere. "Forget about the collar and forget about her."

He didn't see Gambit smirk as though he had just issued a challenge.

XxX

Rogue sat on top of an abandoned skyscraper that the Brotherhood had made into their hideout. A pretty crappy hideout at that. It amazed her everyday how the MRD hadn't stormed in and arrested them all.

She twirled the collar around her gloved finger. If she was going to be honest with herself she would have liked to use this to give Logan a hug and a peck on the cheek. To lay out by the pool with Kitty in a bikini and even go shopping with Jean to get a whole new wardrobe.

But she didn't have that option anymore. She had thrown it all away because she had just had to absorb Toad and catch a glimpse of something Quicksilver was planning. Her and her bleeding heart would be the death of her one day. But for now it just made her miserable.

Maybe she should just give it back to Logan. But she quickly dismissed that line of thought, if Logan wanted it back he could come and get it from her himself. Besides, Forge was probably the one who built this damn thing, he could build another one.

She snapped it in half before using her strength to crumple it into a ball. Looking east toward the ocean she hurled the crumpled collar out into the dark abyss. She watched it sail for a couple of miles before she could no longer see it.

It just figured that touch was finally within her grasp and she had no one to touch.


End file.
